Ferns Newsletter | September, 2010

FERNS ENTERTAINMENT INC. IS BORN

"A little leadership training is a dangerous thing! Andrew participated in the European Media Executive Leadership Program in Strasbourg in June. I went on to Rome, and by the time I got home, Andrew had a new strategic vision for our company. And three months later it has been implemented." - Pat Ferns

A new Alberta corporation, Ferns Entertainment Inc. has been established in Calgary with Andrew as President. He will hold a controlling interest in the new venture. Ferns Productions Inc. will make available developed properties, which the new venture will produce from its Alberta base. Working capital has been provided through a company controlled by Thom Denomme, Ferns' new partner. Shareholders Thom, Andrew and Pat will form the Ferns Entertainment Inc. Board of Directors with Pat as Chairman.

"It makes a lot of sense to take advantage of all that Alberta has to offer in support of the film, television and multi-platform industries. There is a strong talent base that an established production team can rely on, and there is a spirit of entrepreneurship here that is appropriate for the rapidly transforming times of change we face in this sector." - Andrew Ferns

Ferns Productions Inc. will remain in Victoria and handle Pat's portfolio of festival business and leadership training as well as consulting services. Ferns Productions will continue its development activities and will still engage in production where British Columbia is the appropriate base of operations.

While Ferns Productions' current core focus is on blue chip documentary drama, Ferns Entertainment will shift the spotlight towards larger scale movie and television drama projects. And the addition of Thom Denomme will broaden the group's interest in First Nations' content and training.

"I am tremendously excited about working with both Pat and Andrew, whom I have known for some time. The timing has never been better for the Aboriginal Peoples of North America to share their stories with the world, especially across the screens that are now available. Through partnerships, mentorship and creative financing, we feel strongly that we can help create a sustainable industry in the First Nations' sector." - Thom Denomme

Andrew, Pat and Thom will be meeting key stakeholders in Vancouver later this month and in early October during the Vancouver International Film Festival.

NEWS FROM PRODUCTIONS

The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake
The 400 year-old mystery of the "missing seven months" in Drake's circumnavigation of the world and its implications for Canada as explored in Sam Bawlf's best selling book is a top priority on Ferns' development slate. Scripts are currently being written by Andrew.

1968: The Year That Rocked The World
Pat and Andrew Koster are collaborating on the writing of Sturla Gunnarsson's next feature documentary based on Mark Kurlansky's book of the same title. Sturla's latest feature Force of Nature: the David Suzuki Movie recently won the People's Choice Award for Documentary at TIFF, the Toronto International Film Festival.

Salmon Wars
Barbara Hager of Aarrow Productions has invited Pat to act as Executive Producer and Script Consultant on her next directorial outing: a one-hour documentary on the battle to save the Pacific sockeye: one of the great science mysteries of recent times.

NEWS FROM ENTERTAINMENT

The Dark Ones
This period supernatural horror movie written by Andrew is being restructured as an inter-provincial co-production and remains a top priority on Ferns Entertainment's slate of movies planned for 2011.

The Russian Affair
Ferns is negotiating a co-production with Russia's Globus Film and legendary producer Vladimir Zheleznikov for a movie based on Janice Cowan's screenplay about a love affair between the Supreme Commander of Soviet Forces in World War Two and a young American journalist.

Young Shakespeare
Now structured as an on-going series of television drama mini-series under the Young Shakespeare brand, Italy's VipCom Media and the UK's Scenario Films are teamed with Ferns in a three-way co-production. The first four-hours will be Shakespeare in Venice, to be followed by Shakespeare in Rome.

NEWS FROM THE FESTIVAL FRONT

The China International Conference of Science and Educational Producers has just wound up its 2010 event in Suzhou with the presentation of the prestigious China Dragon Awards. Pat served as the Senior Consultant to the conference and hosted the new pitching competition, which was introduced this year. The festival culminated in a nice surprise as Ferns' Australia-Canada co-production Darwin's Brave New World carried off the Silver Dragon Award.

Congratulations to J. Martin Taylor, Jamie Mahaffey for their Gemini Nomination for Best Sound in an Information/Documentary Program or Series for Darwin's Brave New World. Darwin screenwriter Katherine Thomson has been nominated for an Australian Writers' Guild award, and for the Western Australian Premier's Literary Awards.

Another new initiative for Pat is the inaugural CNEX China Documentary Forum, a five-day training initiative for young Chinese filmmakers from Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China, involving leading broadcasters and filmmakers from around the world. The dates for CCDF are October 28-November 1, 2010.

Pat's third trip to China in three months will be for the eighth edition of the Guangzhou (China) International Documentary Film Festival (GZDOC) where Pat has built an important pitching platform. This year, Munich's Documentary Campus and the European Documentary Network (EDN) have teamed up with GZDOC to deliver a new training initiative Crossing Borders, in which 5 European producers, 5 Chinese producers, and 5 producers from the Asia Pacific region are being trained in Shanghai, Leipzig and Guangzhou for the final pitching competition at GZDOC, which runs December 5-10, 2010.

NEWS ON LEADERSHIP

Pat and Doug Macnamara's International Institute for Television Leadership (IITL) in partnership with the european television and media management academy (etma) have received lavish praise from the participants in the latest edition of the European Media Executive Leadership Program (EMELP) held in Strasbourg in June.

Pat is working with etma to create a special program called Falling Leaves, dedicated to running a sustainable factual production company in a changing media environment. Planned dates, once again in Strasbourg, are November 8-12, 2010.

Sign-ups for the next edition of the Asia-Australia Media Executive Leadership Program (AAMELP) are coming in thick and fast, thanks to the strong sponsorship and support of Australia's Screen New South Wales and founding partners ScreenWest and Singapore's Media Development Agency. AAMELP will take place January 16-21, 2011 in Fremantle, Western Australia.

For more information on Ferns Entertainment and Ferns Productions, please go to: www.fernsproductions.com

pat@fernsproductions.com
andrew@fernsproductions.com
thom@fernsproductions.com